Volume 6 Chapter 26 Discharged from the Hospital

The conversation with Uncle San lasted nearly two hours, and two pots of water were drunk. After the conversation, both men felt very tired, both mentally and physically. Uncle San’s body had not yet fully recovered, and he felt dizzy after speaking. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I helped him with his personal things, changed the hot water and tea, and left on my own.

Uncle San’s assistant who went out to buy a VCR hadn’t returned yet. I guessed that it would be difficult to buy that thing. It had been discontinued for too long, and even if it could be bought, it might not be able to be played.

I had forgotten about the video tape when I was listening to it just now, but now I remembered it, and I couldn’t help feeling a sense of fear. I had heard Uncle San sigh before, saying that this matter would have to be continued to be tossed around.

We knew almost nothing about the oil bottle. Was he on the boat by chance, or was he on the team for a purpose? We didn’t even know that. And the oil bottle was different from Uncle San. If he didn’t want to talk about something, nothing could make him respond. Although Uncle San told me a little about him, from this perspective, what he said was far from the truth. He didn’t know much more than I did.

When I thought about this, the relief I had just felt was replaced by a little depression.

After finishing the business, Uncle San’s assistant came back, but he didn’t buy anything. Now the market is closed, so we’ll have to think of something tomorrow.

I hadn’t spoken to Uncle San in a long time, and now that I’d solved my problem, I felt better. I went out with Uncle San and the others that night, found a food stall, and had a good drink. After eating hospital food for so long, I finally got to eat something that tasted good. Uncle San was very happy, and with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other, he finally felt comfortable again.

When he went back, he went to the hospital to check out, saying that he would never stay in the hospital again, and asked me to book a hotel room for him.

I was a little drunk, so I went back to the hotel, booked a suite for Uncle San, took a nice shower, made myself a cup of strong tea, and prepared to go to bed.

But I couldn’t sleep right away after taking a shower, so I turned on the computer and brought up the old photo of Uncle San before he left for Xisha.

I had seen this photo many times, but it was in black and white, and it was hard to tell who was who, except for a few familiar faces. On the photo, Uncle San was thin and introverted, and you couldn’t tell at all that he was a grave robber, and Mian Youbing looked just like an ordinary student. I tried to find a solution to the mystery, and I did find someone who looked a bit like Uncle San. I don’t know if it was him, but I couldn’t help but feel that who would have thought that there was so much hidden beneath this ordinary photo.

After looking at it for a long time, I found that there was no way to see anything in the photo, so I used the hotel’s phone to dial the website of the company that Mian Youbing had sent the package to, and entered the tracking number to look up the information on the package.

The search results came out quickly, and I pulled up the column for the location of the sender. It wasn’t blank, and there were three words: Golmud. This video was sent from a place called Golmud.

I was stunned, wondering where that was. I immediately “googled” it, and was even more surprised to find that it was a western city located in Qinghai Province.

Qinghai? When did Mianyouping go there? I was puzzled. This guy was fast enough to go to the west, but was he there to support the western bandit cause? But Qinghai is not part of the earth-mover’s scope. It is a place where ethnic minorities live, and only international cultural relics smugglers and those who sell mummies go there. What could he be doing there, helping people dig wells?

And he sent me a video tape. It seems like they couldn’t be more different.

I looked up some information on Golmud and learned about its history, and I was even more surprised to find that Golmud is a new city built by the People’s Liberation Army, surrounded by the Gobi Desert. The Mummy is there, and I really can’t think of what he could be doing there. And he sent back a video tape from there. What was it about?

Shit, I was a little irritated, and suddenly I was even more interested in the video tape.

After a few cups of strong tea and a few drinks, I summarized the information I had heard today and sent it to a few people in Anning. I was familiar with these people, and I hoped they would also help me look at it, and maybe I could get some useful feedback. Although Uncle San told me not to tell anyone else, I wanted to tell the people at Jude Kao, and it wouldn’t be a big problem. I also asked them if the company had any plans to enter the Genting Palace again recently.

After doing all this, the alcohol began to take effect, and I soon fell asleep. I slept soundly and without dreaming, until I was woken by a phone call in the early morning.

I answered the phone, and it was Uncle San’s assistant. He said that they had already been discharged from the hospital, that Uncle San was already in the suite next to mine, and that the video recorder had been purchased, so he asked me to come over and watch it together.